Objet d’Art: Silken Street Art

Every month, Interview picks an artist- or designer-created object that straddles the line between aesthetics and function. Subdued tastes need not apply.

Among the more welcome outcomes of an election season is the bounty of unflinching, politically charged art—art that soothes, art that commiserates, art that helps us understand the increasingly inexplicable nature of political theater. And what a fruitful year it’s been: there’s Jonathan Horowitz‘s show “Occupy Greenwich” at the Brant Foundation, “Agitprop!” at the Brooklyn Museum, the touring “Artists for Bernie Sanders” exhibition, and Terence Koh‘s collages at Andrew Edlin Gallery. Now, Mikhail Sokovikov and Jason Wall—the graffiti-artist duo otherwise known as Mint & Serf—are adding their voices to the conversation. They’ve transformed a vibrant work from their “Support, Therapy and Instability” series, titled Young, Dumb and Full of Cum, into a set of limited edition, large-scale silk charmeuse scarves.

“It certainly does feel this year that we are taking one step forward and two steps back in regard to civil rights and discrimination, reproductive rights, immigration rights, racism, and corruption,” the pair says. “We both wanted to see how the abrasiveness of our paintings would translate on smooth medium like silk.”

The scarves, of which only seven are being made, are in-your-face colorful and chaotic (a Mint & Serf signature). While a graffiti scarf doesn’t carry a political message as clear as, say, Marilyn Minter’s Planned Parenthood buttons, if you wear it as a dress or with a George Washington wig—as art and fashion muse Richie Shazam does in these photos—you’ll let everyone know you’re a fashion provocateur, poised for a coup d’état.